What is Video Poker?

Video poker is a game played at special slots-like machines. These machines receive coins, banknotes, bar coded credit tickets or magnetic cards to place a bet. The game process is displayed on a video screen, connected to a computer.

How Does the Game Proceed?

Video poker dealing is normally similar or identical to draw poker. The player is dealt 5 cards, after what he selects which cards to keep and which to discard. When the choice is made, the computer replaces the cards marked for discarding with new cards randomly chosen from the remaining virtual deck. If, after the replacement, the player has one of the hands listed in the payout table, he receives his winning. Otherwise he loses his bet.

Difference between Video and Regular Poker:

Some players treat video poker as if it was a real poker. They hold kickers, prefer higher cards and even try to bluff the machine. Although video poker is based on poker hands ranking, it is actually much more similar to a slots machine than to a real poker.

The main difference between video poker and real poker is that a video poker player's goal is not to beat any other hand, but to have one of the hands included in the payout table, so real poker strategies are completely inappropriate for video poker. Aces, for example, are not more valuable than any other cards in video poker, unless there is a minimal chance to get a royal flush or an extra line in the payout table for four aces or similar, which in fact is very rare. Actually, video poker is completely identical to 5-reel, 2-spin slots, where you can hold one or more reels after the first spin, but it pays for having poker hands instead of BARs and cherries.

However, video poker is a bit more intelligent than slots, because its winning combinations are more varied, and some kind of basic strategy can be applied to it. Taking into the account the low house edge of the game, this can make the game almost even. Anyway, it is hardly believable that any strategy can make video poker favorable for the player. As well as slots, video poker is only advantageous when a large progressive jackpot is accumulated.